Heel construction



H. N. IPEARSON Erm.

Jan. l2,` 1943.

' HEEL CONSTRUCTION Filed oet. 5,`194o Patented Jan. 12, 1943 HEEL CONSTRUCTION Henry N. Pearson, Whittington, Ill., and Henry J.

Wiedemeyer, St. Louis, Mo.,

assignors, by

mesne assignments, to Louis E. Sauer, St.

Louis, Mo.

Application october's, 1940, serial No. 359,968

(o1. afs-s4) 8 Claims.

This application is a continuation in part of application Serial No. 198,000 filed March 25, 1933, for Heel construction, allowed April 5, 1940, and is related to application Serial No. 234,202, filed October 19, 1938, for Molded heel.

The present invention relates to a novel heel construction, and particularly to one involving a minimum number of elements, namely, a molded heel member and a tap.

An object of the invention is to provide a hollow heel member and a tap that may be secured together and jointly attached to a shoe.

A further object of the invention is to provide a heel construction wherein the heel member is made of a molded material, hollow, and designed t be attached to the shoe and to have the tap attached to it.

A further object of the invention is to provide a molded heel of a material that cannot be nailed in the ordinary way, together with means whereby it may be nailed in the usual nailing machine.

A further object of the invention is to provide a molded heel member having means thereon by which a tap may be secured thereto, and particularly may be replaceably secured thereto.

In the drawing:

Fig. l is a plan View of one formof the'invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Pig. 3 is a vertical section of a modification;

Fig. 4 is a bottom view;

Fig. 5 is a plan view of a second modification;

Fig. S is a vertical section on the line 6--6 of Fig. 3; and,

7 is a detailed section on the line I-T of Fig. 5.

In the rst type of heel shown in Figs. l, 2 and 4, a molded heel member is provided with a front wall I I and a curved side and back wall l2. It will be seen that this provides a hollow heel member. A bottom Wall I3 may be employed to enclose the lower part of the heel member.

The hcllow heel member made of plastic material (such as cellulose acetate) is lighter than previously made heels and possesses an inherent resiliency, particularly by virtue of its relatively thin walls, which has proved to be decidedly more comfortable and less fatiguing than ordinary heels. Each modification of the present application discloses such a hollow plastic heel, a major portion of which is in one piece.

Heretofore, it has been impossible to secure molded heels to shoes because the molded material would not receive or hold nails. The present invention provides a plurality of webs I4 that project Vout from the wall I2 toward the center of the heel. Each of these webs has at its outer end a cylindrical enlargement I5 that is provided with a small hole I6 flared or countersunk at its top, as shown at Il. If desired, a further cylinder may be provided at I8 with its flared opening I9 to receive a drive screw.

There is thus provided a cluster of nail-receiving openings in the cylinders secured to or formed integrally with the wall I2. These openings I are spaced in accordance with the spacing of the nails of the usual heel nailing machine. The holes I6 are slightly smaller than lthe external diameters of the nails, being sufiiciently large to prevent splitting of the cylinders when the nails are forced into the holes. Preferably barbed nails are used'which engage very tightly in the several holes and form a connection substantially tighter in 'the plastic material of the present molded heel than can be obtained in the more familiar type of heels known in the prior art, such as wooden heels. A drive screw may be forced into the opening I9, if this form of attachment is preferred.

A similar means may be employed for attaching the tap to the heel member. Thus, in Fig. 2, a tap is shown at 2I. The bottom Wall I3 of the heel member I0 has therein a plurality of holes 22, preferably flared at their entrances. The holes 22 are clustered to conform to the usual arrangement of nails in a tap nailing machine. The holes are slightly smaller than the external diameters of the nails, the nails preferably being of the barbed type.

There also may be'provided serrations 23 on the bottom of the wall I3, with corresponding serrations 23a on the upper surface of the tap. These serrations interiit to' resist shearing of the tap from the heel member. Glue may be applied between the tap and the member, it being found that the serrations, especially when the surface of the molded member is scarred and roughened, cause the glue to adhere tightly.

The nails may be used without the glue or serrations, and likewise the glue may be used without the nails. However, added tightness of the engagement results from combining them One disadvantage of the nails is that they tend to damage the holes 22 when withdrawn so that it becomes difcult to replace the taps.

Since the taps are of leather, and are applied under pressure, the serrations may be limited to those on the heel member, as shown in Fig. 6.

A modied heel is shown in Fig. 3. The heel member 3i! has the front Wall 3i and back; wall 32 of the rst type. However, the back wall 32 is made sufficiently thick to include the nailreceiving openings 33, preferably clustered as in Fig. 1. The construction may be similar to that of Fig. 1, save that, instead of having the nail openings in webs, they are in the thick wall, the forward part of the heel being hollow, as at 34 as in the previous type.

In this modification, the bottom wall has a sloping front edge 35, and a slightly sloping rear edge 36. The tap 3l has a plug 38 with a front edge undercut to engage over the edge 35 on the heel member, and a rear edgeslightly undercut so as to be snapped in over the rear edge 36 of the heel member. A slight resiliency in the heel member or the plug permits the plug to be put in position, and causes it to be held firmly. rlhe plug is thus larger than the normal size of the opening, so that it is bound in position. 4This type of tap-securing means is disclosed in the application of the present applicant, Henry N. Pearson, Serial No. 189,056, led February 7, 1938, and in the application of Louis E. Sauer and Henry N. Pearson, Serial No. 320,544, filed February 24, 1940.

A second modified construction is shown in Figs. 7. In this type, the heel member 4B has a front wall 4|, side and ba-ck walls 42, and a bottom wall 43. A horseshoe-shaped nail-receiving web 44 extends upwardly from the wall 42 and is reinforced by connecting webs 45 that lead to the Wall 42 at the upper portions of the web 44..

As appears in Fig. 7, the web 44 has a V-notch 46 in its upper surface. A plurality of holes 4'! extend down into the web from the apex of the V-notch 46. These holes are designed to receive the nails as driven by the usual heel-nailing machine. This type of heel may be used with nailing machines having some variety of arrange-- ments of the nail clusters, since the V-notch tends to direct the nail to its apex and there is such a large number of holes in the apex that each nail will find one or another of them.

The drive screw cylinder 48, with its hole 49, is found also in this modification and may be used as desired.

The front wall 5i! of the heel members may be roughened in order that the skiving may be glued thereto.

Although the present invention is especially applicable to molded heels, certain phases obviously could be applied to heels of other materials. Also the invention could manifestly be applied to other styles of heels and taps than those shown. Hence, the terms heel member and tap are intended to include all such types or styles wherein there is a wearing element and an intermediate member attached to the shoe and to which the tap is secured. The term heel is likewise intended in its generic sense as applied to footwear.

The openings do not necessarily extend to the depth penetrated by the nails, and in the type of Fig. 5 they are preferably located so closely as to permit expansion of the material when the nails are driven, even though the nails do :not pass into the holes themselves. Likewise in Fig. 5, the location of the nail-receiving portion in the groove below the heel seat surface prevents the eruptions caused in the plastic by the penetration of the nails from lifting above the heel seat surface where they would cause improper seating of the heel on the shoe.

What is claimed is:

1. A hollow shoe heel made of a resistingly nailable material having front, side and back walls, means providing a cluster of heel nail-receiving holes spaced inwardly from the said walls, said holes terminating above the-bottom of the member and being of such size as to grip nails driven into them, and webs extending from said walls to support said means.

`2. A hollow shoe heel member, a web therein, said web being spaced inwardly of the heel member, a nail-directing groove in the top of the web, and a plurality of nail-receiving holes extending into the web from the bottom of the groove.

3. In a hollow shoe heel member formed from resistant but yieldable material, a plurality of webs extending from the inner walls toward the center of the member, enlarged nail-receiving portions in said Webs and spaced in a cluster within the member, `and means on each enlarged portion adjacent the surface of the heel member to receive and guide a nail driven into the surface toward the middle of said portion.

4. A shoe heel element having an attaching surface adapted to receive and bind nails or like fasteners driven in a cluster of predetermined form, said element havingV an internal nail-receiving means normally not readily penetrable by nails, said means including portions spaced from the heel element but attached thereto to provide a plurality of spaced nail-receiving portions, said last-named portions having parts formed so as readily to receive and bind nails, and the portions being severally located in the aforesaid cluster in which the nails are driven.

5. In a shoe heel adapted to have nails or like fastening means driven thereinto in a predetermined pattern covering a limited area, means in the heel having a surface covering said limited area, said means being spaced from the walls of the heel, and said surface having a plurality of guide means for the nails greater in number than the number of nails.

6. In ra shoe heel adapted to have nails or like fastening means driven thereinto in a predetermined pattern covering a limited area, means in the heel having a surface covering said limited area, said means being spaced from the walls of the heel, and said surface having a plurality of openings therein so as to render the area penetrable by the nails.

7. In a device of the kind described, a heel having a surface with a nail-receiving portion made of plastic material, said nail-receiving portion being displaced below the surface so that eruption of the material above the level of the nail-receiving portion will not rise above said surface.

8. A plastic molded heel having an upper surface and a lower surface, an opening extending inwardly from the lower surface thereof, and a second opening extending downwardly from the upper surface and opening into the first opening, the second opening terminating adjacent the lower surface of the heel, the lower wall of the second opening extending at an angle to the lower surface to provide an undercut lower edge to the heel member.

HENRY N. PEARSON. HENRY J. WIEDEMEYER. 

